


Valor

by clairelutra (exosolarmoon)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Heroic Adrien Agreste, Trapped In A Closet, Unresolved Romantic Tension, a tag i can get behind, they blush, they swoon, what else is ladrien for?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 16:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10312286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosolarmoon/pseuds/clairelutra
Summary: “No worries,” she said lightly, teasingly — almostflirtatiously. “Your secret is safe with me.”Adrien sank down the wall, just slightly, and wished he could sink through the floor.Kill him now.“That would… help a lot, if it wasn’t you I wanted to impress.”Ladybug went still for only just long enough to make him wonder if he shouldn’t have said that, and then:“You…youwant to impressme?”Squirming against the wall, Adrien mused that that voice was a large part of the reason why he did — soft and sweet andawedbecause ofhim. “Yeah, well… I mean… You’re… you’reyou. Whodoesn’twant to impress you?”





	

As far as places to transform went, the closet wasn’t ideal. It was cramped and narrow and Adrien could touch both of the side walls at once with his _elbows_ , but (as the pounding footsteps and eerie chanting outside the door were happy to remind him) it was far, far better than nothing.

“Plagg!”

“Mmmmh…”

_“Plagg!”_

Plagg poked his head out of Adrien’s pocket to whine, “I don’t _want to_ …”

Adrien took a breath to remind Plagg exactly how dire their situation was right at that moment and then choked on it as something large and heavy and suspiciously _human-sounding_ slammed into the shut door.

His palm met with Plagg’s head, forcing the kwami back into the pocket just as the door burst open.

Adrien caught a glimpse of the outline of someone that looked like _Ladybug_ , illuminated by a flash of lightning, and then the door was slamming shut with a loud _snap_ and Adrien had an armful of adrenaline-hot superheroine within the space of a second.

One, two, three seconds of shocked silence. 

Ladybug stiffened with a swallowed scream.

“Sorry-sorry- _sorry!”_ Adrien hissed, trying to leap back and finding he had nowhere to go, the backs of his hands hitting the cool walls with a tiny sting to his knuckles.

“N- _eeep_ , no, no, I’m— no-sorry,” Ladybug stammered breathlessly, pushing herself off of him and staggering back the half-step she had behind her. “I-I didn’t see— I didn’t think—” A small break in her sputtering, one tiny inhalation, and then, “.. _.A-Adrien?!”_

“Y-yes?”

(It _didn’t_ make his stomach flip that she’d remembered the name of his civilian identity from the two or so short times they’d met. It didn’t. _Really.)_

“O-oh…” Ladybug breathed, and blew out a shaky, relieved sigh. “I. Um. Didn’t think I’d find you here. It’s a-a good, um, spot though. T-to hide from the akuma.”

“Hide…? Oh! Yes! Akuma!” He felt his face burn in a mixture of panic and embarrassment as he clamped his mouth shut. Better not let anything _more_ incriminating slip. The rumbling roar of the chant rose again outside of their shelter. “…That akuma.”

That was apparently just a little bit too much hesitation, because Ladybug said, amused and just this side of droll, “…You mean you _didn’t_ come in here to hide?” 

Whoops.

“Nnnn… Well, I mean,” Adrien stalled, rubbing the back of his head as much as the confines of the room would let him. “I-I _guess_ I did.”

“You _guess,”_ she echoed, just teasing enough to send a jolt of excitement down his spine. “Is there another reason you’d be in here alone, hot stuff?”

…Well, he sure could think of reasons he’d be in here, but none of them involved being alone.

In fact, most of them looked like what was happening right now, except that in his head, Ladybug was a lot more eager to be in here with him.

“…W-well, I guess not,” he allowed, pretending that he hadn’t also just spent two whole seconds short-circuiting over the words ‘hot stuff.’ “Just…”

“‘Just’?“

His face felt even hotter as he said, “Well, it’s kind of embarrassing to be caught running and hiding, you know?”

As far as excuses went, that one was _terrible_ ; Adrien better than anyone that, unless you were in desperate times, getting out of the akuma’s way (and the heroes’) and staying out was your best bet.

It was not, however, the _worst_ excuse, because it didn’t involve ‘I just ducked in here for a second to transform into my secret superhero alter ego so I could help you defeat that thing,’ so Adrien forgave himself for the moment.

Ladybug interrupted that line of thought with a quiet, _“Pffffft.”_

Adrien flinched. “What?”

There was a moment where he could hear her gathering her composure, and then she said, not unkindly or unexpectedly, “Running and hiding are what me and Chat _want_ you to do, you know. We want all of Paris’ citizens safe from akuma.”

That was her ‘Ladybug’ voice, the one she used when she needed people to really listen to her, quiet and kind and confident and firm, and Adrien, already tickled pink at the way she treated herself and Chat like a single item, had to take another moment to gather his own composure.

“I know that,” he said, too busy furiously pushing back fantasies of valiant superheroine Ladybug and distressed civilian Adrien Agreste to pay much attention to his words. “Just… you know. Getting _caught_ is kinda… uncool, I guess.”

( _Getting caught_ and carried to safety by Ladybug when an akuma tries to turn him into mincemeat, her arm strong around his waist and her breath hot on his face—

No.

 _Getting caught_ as she accepts his thank-you kiss and then decides to take her money’s worth, snogging him senseless and leaving him a swooning mess in some quiet hallway—

 _No_.)

“Pfffft.”

 _“What?”_ Adrien grumbled, getting the distinct feeling he was being laughed at. Burgeoning humiliation and repressed arousal made for an… _interesting_ combination.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said through a giggle. “It’s just… I didn’t think you cared so much about your image.”

Adrien looked away, puffing his burning cheeks. It wasn’t _precisely_ his image he was worried about, but she wasn’t all wrong.

“No worries,” she said lightly, teasingly — almost _flirtatiously_. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Adrien sank down the wall, just slightly, and wished he could sink through the floor. _Kill him now._ “That would… help a lot, if it wasn’t you I wanted to impress.” 

Ladybug went still for only just long enough to make him wonder if he shouldn’t have said that, and then:

“You… _you_ want to impress _me?”_

Squirming against the wall, Adrien mused that that voice was a large part of the reason why he did — soft and sweet and _awed_ because of _him_. “Yeah, well… I mean… You’re… you’re _you_. Who _doesn’t_ want to impress you?”

“O-oh…”

She didn’t seem to have anything else to say and he couldn’t think of anything to add that wouldn’t be highly incriminating, and thus, a silence fell.

The noise outside their hideaway had dulled, the chant moved away, and Ladybug shifted, probably pressing her ear against the door.

“…Sounds like the coast is cl—…” She trailed off, and he couldn’t see the frown, but he’d watched her so much over the years he could picture it with crystal clarity. “…Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

In the distance, there was a slow, steady thump, thump, thump, near-inaudible but getting louder with every beat. It sounded like footsteps.

“…That.”

Adrien winced, remembering the four-meter-tall akuma that was out there, turning innocent people into rabid _Bleus_ fans. 

“Oh. That.”

Like football hadn’t been terrifying enough before. Adrien was going to stick with basketball, thanks.

The footsteps were getting closer.

 _Unnervingly_ close.

Heart in his mouth and blood in his ears, Adrien put himself between Ladybug and the door, heedless of the fact that without his suit he’d be a pretty bad meat-shield.

For a good five seconds, he really thought the akuma was going to burst in on them.

Five seconds of numb hands and baited breath and unnatural stillness as they both coiled themselves, ready to spring— 

And then the footsteps paused.

Turned.

And then thump, thump, thumped away.

He and Ladybug exhaled as one.

“Okay,” said Adrien, removing his hands from Ladybug’s person with another flash of embarrassment, now backed with a fair amount of shame. _“Now_ the coast is clear.”

“…Right,” Ladybug said, and then hesitated, inhaling like she was going to say something, her body heat burning through his thin clothing where she was pressed against him, from chest to knee.

She didn’t say anything for a long moment — long enough that Adrien cleared his throat and prompted, “…What’s up?”

Another breathless pause, and then: “You know… I see you sometimes.”

Adrien blinked. “…Huh?”

“When we’re out fighting an akuma,” she clarified, sliding a hand over his heart and probably feeling it leap to attention at her touch, like every inch of his skin was currently trying to do. “When everyone’s running and panicking and…” She gave a jerky little shrug, still close enough for him to feel it. “Well, you know how akuma attacks are.”

“Y-yeah,” said Adrien, wondering if, between the two of them, they’d used up all the oxygen in the tiny space. There just didn’t seem to be any left.

“And, you know, for as many times as I’ve seen you running away…” Her fingers smoothed over the bands on his shirt. “I think I’ve seen you helping out more.”

Adrien was a little too floored at the fact that she could pick him out of a crowd to summon a coherent response.

She gave another, smaller shrug at his silence, confidential and quiet as she continued: “I mean, you direct the crowds and organize escapes and… and I know I’ve seen you go back for the people that get stuck, and you…” Her fingers curled over his chest. “You… you’re kind. Patient. Brave.”

Was this a dream? This was probably a dream.

“Me and Chat… it’s our _job_ to protect Paris and everyone in it, you know?” She breathed a sigh, and he could hear the smile in her words, even if he couldn’t put names to the other emotions in them. “It’s not your job at all, and yet… you help anyway.”

Adrien really didn’t want to wake up.

“And, you know… that’s pretty heroic,” she whispered, a tiny hitch in her voice, squeezing his shoulder with her other hand and going up on her toes. _“I_ think you’re pretty cool.”

This was _most definitely_ a dream.

And then she pressed warm, soft, sweet lips to his cheek, heedless of the way it was currently trying to _melt off his face_.

Or set the room on fire, whichever came first.

“Thanks, hero,” she murmured as she pulled away, so grateful and affectionate he stopped breathing altogether.

She moved back, taking her body heat with her, and opened the door. He saw her smile illuminated by field lights, shy and flustered, heard her say, “Stay safe, handsome boy,” and raised his hand in farewell.

She shut the door behind her with a quiet click.

He had no idea how long he stood there, but it was, apparently, long enough to frustrate Plagg, who ended up going into the ring of his own accord for the first time since their partnership had begun.

Adrien was going to remember this dream _forever_.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like this is one of the most self-indulgent things i've ever written and i'm not really sure why


End file.
